Interplanetary MFD
Interplanetary MFD
(IMFD)
Version 4.2
for Orbiter
Space Flight Simulator 2005
c Jarmo Nikkanen
June 4, 2005
Copying / Warranty
This software is free software and you can freely distribute it with out any fee. All the files must be in place.
This software is the property of Jarmo Nikkanen. It is also a Windows software and there is NO WARRANTY
of any kind. There is no guarantee of any system damage or miss calculations it might cause. Using this
software is at your own risk. This software is created for Martin Schweigers Orbiter the space flight simulator
2005 Edition.
Internet
Latest IMFD and tutorials is located in http://koti.mbnet.fi/jarmonik/Orbiter.html
Notes
1. Some of the screen shots are from olded version of IMFD and those not looking exactly the
same as the current version. 2. You may need to press [MOD] button to bring up the surface
launch data.
Requirements
Orbiter Patch 050126 is required.
Installation
Unpack the package in to the Orbiter installation folder. Unless you have all ready done. Config folder will
contain IMFD.cfg for configuration options.
Special thanks
To Robert B. Denny for a great features he have coded and added to IMFD to improve its usability and make
it easier to use. =) Also thanks for the great tutorials.
General information
Burn Integrations
In the IMFD a burn integrations are used to improve
the accuracy of the burns. Typically in a transfer calculations is expected that the delta velocity is gained
at once with no burn time at all. This is the initial
burn executed in the initial position. However, In a
reality the time required by the burn must be notified
somehow. The most easiest way is to reduce a half
of the estimated burn time from the initial burn position. So, that would be the actual position where
the engines should be started. The ship will end up,
almost but not exactly, in a right direction. The grey
sector in a picture below is presenting this method.
Color configuration
IMFD allows a colors to be configured by configuration
file. The file is located in Config folder and the file is
named as IMFD.cfg The same file will be used at least
by BaseSyncMFD
Information Flow
IMFD will contain a separate programs for transfer,
sling-shot, orbit-eject, trajectory plotting and burn
control. There is some information transfered form
the program to an other, beginning from the transfer
programs and ending in to the trajectory plotting and
burn control. In this version of IMFD all the programs
are not updated automatically only the programs those
are visible. So, you need to configure the flight plan
in right order and the flight plan must be configured
just before the launch to ensure that the information
is up to date.
the intersection of the Ships orbit and the hypothetical transfer orbit (HTO). This is usually presented in
a green. The plane change maneuvers will happen in
a positions pointed by the nodes (boxes).
provide required accuracy on a missions with a multiple fly-bys. In those cases you can use Off-plane intercept program to keep the mission in a schedule. That
will take the time of fly-by as an input parameter. This
will put your ship in a collision course, thats not good,
but this should be fixed from the future versions. At
right now, you need to use the Planet Approach program to raise the periapis distance to prevent the collision. This maneuver should take a place immediately
after crossing the edge of the sphere of influence or
well before that. Off-plane Intercept program should
be used when you have exited the sphere of influence.
Known Problems
If you encounter a problems while loading old scenarios
those are using IMFD try to remove the BEGIN MFD END MFD sections from the scenario files.
Swing-By Calculator
This is the latest additions in the IMFD. Currently
there is only a partial support for SBC. The dates
of the planet fly-bys are important but there is no
support for them. There is an auxiliary vector input
button [Aux] located in some programs, that will
open an dialog box for input parameters. And there
are four of them. At first enter the V-departure in an
order of appear and finally the C3-departure with the
spaces between the values. For an example: 13.234
12.002 -2.123 23.223
This will setup your exit vector for a plant escape or
a fly-by. These parameters can be used in Orbit-Eject
and Sling-Shot programs. These programs may not
4
Map Program
The Core
The core is using the Encke-Fehlberg methods those
will allow a high speed trajectory prediction. In this
version of the trajectory engine the graphical steps
and the numerical integration steps will go a side by
side. So, increasing a step size will lower the graphics quality. It would be possible to use a high order
integration methods with a long time steps to compute the trajectory and a sub integrations for increasing the graphics quality. That would be more complicated and it would not significantly increase the overall
performance. So, a lower order method with a lower
step size have been chosen as an default option. However, The user can select the integration method from
Third order RK3, RK4-Gill, Symplectic 4th Order and
RK-Fehlberg methods. Also Adams-Multton method
is under consideration. Of course, it is possible to
create a much much more faster trajectory predictors
but it is questionable that does it provide satisfied rewards/efforts ration. Surely, in the integrations where
a graphical plotting is not required such a methods
could be used more easily.
Core Configuration
Some of the core functions are configured through the
IMFD.cfg file. The LegSize option will define the size
factor for the leg. Higher number will make the legs
longer therefore, amount of legs required to compute
the trajectory will decrease. LegsPerFrame option will
define how many legs are computed within every frame.
If the frame rate is 80 frames per second and 20 legs are
There can be multiple periapses on a trajectory. Number of available periapses and the currently selected
periapis is shown in a top-left corner Pe 1 of 2. Ref
Moon is indicating that the Moon is the reference if
this periapis. Only the selected periapis is shown on
a display. Also there are two different kind of periapis
points, strong and weak once. This is simply because,
5
Inc
PeT
PeD
PeV
PeA
Ecc
Cir
RIn
Tn
PlC
Lon
Lat
EqI
GeR
Trajectory Limiters
Due the nature of numerically computed trajectory.
The generation of the trajectory must be limited somehow. Because, there is no end point in a trajectory.
There are two automatical limiters for the trajectory
such as a Period- and a Hyperbolic-limiters. These limiters will cut the trajectory other vice there would be a
plenty of trajectory on the screen and that would look
chaotic. You can manage these limiters from the configuration page. The period will limit the trajectory
in one orbital period around the reference planet. The
hyperbolic will limit the trajectory in one hyperbolic
periapis relative to reference planet. The automatical limiters can be overridden manually by setting the
time limit and it will limit the trajectory in a specified amount of seconds. That is the most usable if
the others fails. So, If the trajectory looks a little
strange or short it may have been limited incorrectly
by automatic and you should make some manual configurations.
Special orbits
The information on a screen is displayed for the periapis positions not for the current position of the ship.
However, There is one exception when no single pe-
You can also target one of the special orbit like the
ecliptic, equatorial orbit, and the geostationary orbit
6
Projections
Ecliptic
Target
Self
Center
Periapis
Ecliptic plane
Use the target orbit for projection
Use current orbit of the ship
Automatically use the orbit of centered object
Ships orbit in a periapis around Pe. reference
Nonspherical Gravity
The Map program can include a non-spherical gravity in a predictions. Currently only J2 coefficients are
notified and this will be included only when the ship
is within the sphere of influence. This feature is controlled by automatic. However, it can be manually
overridden from the IMFD.cfg by setting the option
NonSpherical 0 it can be forced to be always active
with NonSpherical 2
Configuration Page
Some basic configurations, required by multi-body predictor, can be made from the configuration page. In
a top edge there is an indicator telling an amount of
integration steps used in the prediction. Also it will
tell how many planets are currently included in the
computations 3+5 of 62 indicates that there is three
objects fully perturbated and five objects using an analytical update.
Legs/Frame
Leg Size
MassLimit
Period
Hyperbolic
TimeLimit
One Pe/Ref
Rectific.
Integration
Orbit Eject
Escape Mode
The top right item is used to select a source of the
escape information. If the source is selected incorrectly
the data on a screen is meaningless or it doest appear
at all. This is because there are multiple programs
those are capable to generate the escape information.
Lower/Higher-Orbit modes are internally generated by
orbit eject program.
Lower-Orbit
Higher-Orbit
Course
BaseAppr
Sling-Shot
SBCalc
Burn Mode
There are also a two different burn modes available
and those are a Realtime and a Pro-Grade. Realtime
mode is a good one for escaping from the low gravity bodies. This mode is using a burn vector to eject
the ship in a correct heading. However, this mode in
highly inefficient in a long burns. The Pro-grade mode
is created for a long burns and it is using a Pro-grade
burn. So, use a PG autopilot or the autoburn feature
to complete the burn. Pro-grade mode is not available
if (EIn) is greater than 1.0 degrees. Neither it is available during the liftoff. On a highly elliptical orbits the
integration of the exact burn position may take a few
seconds. The position is integrated with high accuracy
and you should end up exactly in a correct heading after the burn. For the last few seconds you can use
the Realtime mode to improve the accuracy but thats
Ejection Plane
Ejection plane can be adjusted by making the plane
9
Course programs
This is entirely new program in the IMFD. It contains
many different programs for interplanetary transfer,
course correction and approach.
Program Menu
You can select the program by pressing [Prv] and [Nxt]
buttons from the right edge of the screen. (That would
be Shift-1 and Shift-2) When you have selected the
program you wish to use press [Set] button to activate
it. Pressing the set button on a program title will
always reset the program to its default condition.
, h = |
r
v|
v =
r
rearth
r
mars
uct l =
n
h nt of the normal vectors nh and nt of
the hypothetical orbit and target orbits. (RIn) is the
relative inclination measured in this node.
|
v
v
v = vs2 + vt2 2vs vt cos() = |
t
s
11
is defined as = /2 6 (
n
s rt )
Time to ejection
MJD of ejection
Radius of target orbit (when available)
Time to intersect the target orbit
MJD of orbit intersect
Distance between positions
Relative inclination between orbits
Magnitude and AP mode for plane change
Burn time for orbit insertion (capture)
The white line in a display indicates an orbit intersection position and the orange dashed line indicates the
position of the target planet at the time of intersection. If these two lines are over each other, you will
intercept the target in that position. Source orbit can
be a hyperbolic one but the target must be elliptical
or circular.
When the local equator or ecliptic is targeted the radius of the target orbit can be defined. There are no
13
PeA
EqI
TEj
Trl
Inc
LAN
ALE
Cir
14
Sling Shot
EIn
Inc
LAN
PeA
C3
oV
Lnc
Trl
r ,
e ),
[0, 2]
= 6 (
2
= /vo
= r2 sin2
= 2ar(cos 1)
r
x r sin x + 2y + y
+1
e =
2a2
a
x
y
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
BaseApproach
Lon
Lat
Alt
ReA
Ant
ReT
ReV
EqI
Sol
Num
The inclination of the Moon is about 23 degrees relative to Earths equator. Therefore, the area that can
be targeted from the moon lies between 23deg North
and 23deg South but only a small part of that area can
be target at a time. So, if the base is located outside
16
Reference Section
Items in a displays
Key commands
PeT Time to Periapis
Shift-F
Shift-I
Shift-R
Shift-T
Shift-M
Shift-P
Prv
Nxt
(+)
(-)
Set
Adj
BV
Z+
ZSrc
Cnt/Aux
AB
Shift-1
Shift-2
Shift-3
Shift-4
Shift-5
Shift-6
Shift-F
Shift-I
Shift-R
Shift-T
Shift-M
Shift-P
Cnt
Z+
ZSel
Dsp
Azo
Slf
SOI
IPC
Plan
Find
Shift-1
Shift-2
Shift-3
Shift-4
Shift-5
Shift-6
Shift-1
Shift-2
Shift-3,4
Shift-5
Shift-6
Shift-2,3
Shift-4
Shift-5
Shift-6
Shift-1
Shift-5
n
orbit. 6 (
s ns )
EqI Equatorial inclination of orbit
EIn Escape/Ejection Inclination. An angle between
escape vector and the orbital plane of the ship,
,
it is defined as: /2 6 (
n
s E ). In a transfer
programs, It is also the angle between the orbital
plane of the ship and the target position at the
time of interception.
Shift-I
Shift-F
Shift-T
Shift-R
Shift-M
Shift-P
Tn Time to next node. When negative it is presenting the time after the node.
Shift-4
Shift-5
Shift-6
Shift-1
Shift-2
Shift-3
Shift-5
Shift-6
18
Used in Map
of
escape
asymptote.
19
A mid-course correction
1. Open the Off-plane intercept program located
in a course program collection.
Planet Approach
1. Open the Planet Approach program from
course program collection.
2. Setup the reference to the planet being approached by pressing [REF] button. It is most
likely chosen incorrectly by the automatics.
5. Select (EqI) item that would be equatorial inclination. Press [Set] and setup the value you want.
Note that you can not reach low inclination orbits with this way. The limits will depend on your
current approach angles. To reach low inclination
orbit execute the standard plane change maneuver in a node.